The line between professional content and user-generated content is becoming ever more blurred; and for many brands this is great news. They often seek the authenticity of 'real' stories and situations.
Take, for example, pictures. There are plenty of places to buy low-cost imagery with easy-to-understand licenses (everything from Getty to IStock, for example). Yet these stock libraries often fall a little flat in the viewer's eye.
For starters, what if you want something more authentic, less staged? Aren't we all bored of the endless ethnically-balanced group of businesspeople shaking hands?
Second, what if you can't quite find what you want?
There are a range of new services which allow the global crowd of amateur and semi-pro photographers (and frankly,, these days, you can